That was until early Friday in Baghdad, when a U.S. air strike killed Soleimani, who headed the overseas arm of the Revolutionary Guards and was regarded as the second most powerful figure in Iran after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The killing of Soleimani - shortly after he arrived from Damascus, according to the White House - capped a week of fast-escalating hostilities between the United States and Iran. But planning for the strike matured in the wake of the U.S. contractors' death last week that Washington blamed on Iran. Trump played golf with Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a conservative hawk, on Monday at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida. Trump insisted on Friday that he ordered Soleimani's killing "to stop a war," not to start one.

Source: The Star January 04, 2020 00:33 UTC